intelligent

WITH A SOLID CLOUD

STRATEGY , COMPANIES CAN

CONFIDENTLY MAKE EFFECTIVE

DECISIONS .

Noel O ’ Grady , Director , Ireland , Sungard Availability Services

of the importance of cloud adoption to boost business performance .

With a solid cloud strategy , companies can confidently make effective decisions , charting a direct course through migration , transition and reaping the many benefits that the cloud offers .

Here is what I believe are three key elements to determining a successful cloud strategy for SMEs :

Decide what the end goal is It is key to have a clear destination in mind before embarking . It must be the responsibility of business leaders to establish a clear cloud strategy and identify the goals and outcomes they hope the chosen cloud will deliver .

Organisations require a clear vision for future direction and all strategic decisions must be based on this . So , when deciding on outsourced cloud solutions , business leaders must select a vendor whose processes , procedures and abilities best fit their objectives .

Know your IT estate IT estates may include a variety of platforms such as colocation , on premise and clouds , and a careful analysis of each application is required before choosing a path to take .

When it comes to migration , in some instances it will be straightforward . In other cases , the application can be refactored to allow for the new environment . Businesses must evaluate whether the best option is to keep the application ‘ as is ’ and either continue to run it internally or look for a hosting vendor that can support it in its current state along with cloud offerings .

Understand the advantages of different cloud types Companies must choose between private , public and hybrid options . In defining a cloud strategy , it is critical to understand the differences in operation , management , scale and security for each of these routes . Business goals should drive cloud choice , not the other way around . For example , a hybrid cloud solution that helps match the IT estate requirements against different end-states could be the shortest path to a best-fit solution for some businesses . However , others might want to prioritise a scale out for application , in which case a public cloud would be the best fit .

Establishing the full picture

Understanding the complete business picture is the key to developing a solid cloud strategy . For business leaders and IT teams , it is key to choose the right partner and technology that can support them now and in the years to come . �